For players with all their main spec legendaries, a new system is being added so that if you get an additional legendary drop while in that spec, it will instead drop a legendary for one of your offspecs (chosen randomly). If you want to target a particular offspec for legendaries you will still need to have your loot spec set to that spec.

Live Summary

Q: What was the reason for making ilvl a big part of the artifact challenges as opposed to scaling?

A: Ilvl mattering is the default - in all content. There are a couple exceptions like Proving Grounds and Timewalking. Ultimately, it lets the challenges be over time accessible over time to a larger audience. Similar to Benediction type challenges. Measuring yourself to see how early you can do it afford a measure of prestige. We know that there will be a large number of people who won't be able to do it even with Tomb gear. It's hard.

A: Pretty satisfied. This is pretty much what we announced back in mid-2015. We may have wanted to add one or two more light requirements but they would have been things you'd get along the way. Yes Broken Isles Pathfinder, Part Two feels a bit bare-bones without invasions.

Q: Are invasions continuing throughout the expansion?

A: Currently no plans to turn them off. The outdoor world goes on even if the threat of the Legion is done.

A: Not right now. Since it sort of shuts down the WQ for that zone, we never wanted them to be active for too long - on for 6 hours, off for 12. Makes it feel noteworthy. We did notice that it didn't line up that well with the flying achievement realities. The point was to add variety, not replace old stuff.

Q: Will the building uptime be changed at all? I see the uptime going down as people get flying.

A: We actually haven't seen contribution rates really decline, despite our expectations. If those go way down, we'll adjust the contributions required to construct the buildings. Tech is there to adjust all this.

Q: What was the original plan to time gate 7.2 and how are you feeling about this?

A: Storytelling is a big part of Legion, but the raid opening is purely gameplay reasons. Blizzard needed an in-game excuse for that scheduling, so a series of chapters/events was created to lead up to the opening of Tomb.

Originally, we wanted to break up weekly steps between something meaty and some "filler" i.e. kill 10 rares. However, people on the 7.2 PTR felt Broken Shore was kind of empty when you were limited in this way. So we sped up the schedule, with content like the Sentinax and class campaigns early on in 7.2. The filler stuff is the remaining parts of Breaching the Tomb, but that will culminate in the class mount. Ultimately the scheduling decisions rests on my (Ion's) shoulders and content was not planned as well as it should have been.

There is a lot of Legion content which is class/spec specific - 12 class campaigns, 7 artifact campaigns, etc. A lot of resources went into that for this patch - which means players don't see a lot of the other work if they only play 1 class.

Q: 7.2 described as a big patch but we don't see a lot of it?

A: Yes, there is a lot of content but most of it is class specific content that you might not see. A lot of, for example, voice lines were recorded for 7.2 - more than for some expansion releases! But yes, only seeing a slice of it makes it seem like there is less to do. We always want to hear what more you want, so give us feedback. We are trying to improve the content cadence and we'd love to hear more about what you're looking for and what your expectations are with big patches. Sometimes when there's so much to do, it's unclear as to what you should be doing first.

Q: Will class focus continue going forward?

A: Not necessarily in the quest content, but it will remain a theme of Legion.

A: No, it will not be account wide. But...that requirement has been removed! We did want people to have flying before the mount but now we see with how pacing has worked out that that is not a worry. So no, you do not need exalted for class mounts. Just completing the Legionfall campaign and the finale of that for your class = unlocked class mount.

A: No exact date, but we'll probably post the full unlock schedule sometime in May. We feel like 5 months is good for a big raid like Nighthold so that is about where it will be. Probably mid-late June.

Q: Do you think you missed the mark with mixed expectations with 7.2 and 7.2.5 with raid?

A: Same as when Mythic Nighthold opens. Keystone loot cap goes up to probably 15. Same ilvl cap raises, etc.

Q: Are you aware of the CRZ lag problems?

A: Yes, they are very much on our radar to fix. We do want sharding to work but there have been issues with addons, etc. We want people to move shards as few as possible, etc. There are some "magnets" that pull people to certain servers. Sometimes this leads to overloading. Regardless of what caused it, this lag isn't acceptable.

Q: Heirloom upgrades to 110?

A: Still planned for 7.2.5! Work isn't on PTR yet but it will be.

Q: With a good number of more active players having all Main Spec legendaries, how do you plan to do this without having to micromanage loot spec?

A: Plan for 7.2.5 is you can stay in a spec and if you have all the legendaries for a spec, if you get an additional legendary it will randomly drop for another spec. If you want legendaries for a specific spec, you'll have to be in that loot spec. For example: If you are a Ret paladin and have all the Ret legendaries, if you get another legendary to drop it will randomly be holy or prot.

Q: Can we get a 12 part class Q&A session?

A: We get this question a lot. But we worry about irrelevance to other 11 specs. We are considering more class-based AMAs on Reddit, for example. Still up in the air so we'll see.

Q: Currently specs feel like different classes - where is the class identify in baseline abilities?

A: Good and valid question. We have gone too far in some places in that direction. Sometimes the difference works out i.e. Shadow and Holy priest.

A: We learned some things - Symbiosis was too complicated. We are still trying to find - this pendulum thing. It doesn't feel great that you need x external buff to do great. Some of these are still hybrids though, so some of their class identity is still in offering support like external buffs. We were misguided with Greater Blessing of Might - too fixated with parity on meters. What we really want is someone to look at raid comp and say "awesome we have a druid, that means x" - If anything, we like that classes can help each other - cooperative -- yes it complicates life as far as a performance perspective but if your goal is working as a team, there is a lot of merit to those synergies. Gives players a chance to contribute something that's not raw throughput. They are providing something to their group through their presence. What happened to bring the players not the class? We may have gone too far in pursuit of that. Literally 10 years ago we had the wild buff matrix of Sunwell. It's been 10 years since then. Now we're in a world where you might want a slightly less geared warlock vs. your 3rd hunter - a slightly more well rounded group will do better.

A: We've made a lot - we've nerfed Cathedral of Eternal Night. We are keeping tabs on completion statistics i.e. times, # of chests. They are generally in a good space right now. That said, new and old dungeons are on even footing so it may be that you just are more familiar with the old dungeons. The new ones may seem harder because you don't know them as well which lead to slightly lower success rates at first.

Q: Are you happy with the new M+ Affixes?

A: Quite happy overall. Still a bit of a learning curve but they seem over all that they are on par with the original affixes.

A: It's okay if content doesn't reward something that interests you. These assaults will not give Armies rep in the future. Legion assaults are a great way to get Nethershards and AP. Also less of an issue now that the class mount doesn't require exalted.

A: Everything shifts up by 30 so new legendaries will drop at 970. There will be a new quest to upgrade legendaries after TOS comes out to upgrade them to 970. It will be a more streamlined quest. You don't need to save your current Distilled Titan Essence. Also the new quest will take very old legendaries from 910 straight to 970.

A: Yes, when it's Outland Timewalking Dungeon Event you'll be able to do Black Temple Timewalking. Ideally, every Timewalking event will have a raid associated with it eventually. Let us know which one you like for each expansion!

Q: The Paragon chests are a bit underwhelming, can they drop bloods, etc?

A: PvP Style diminishing returns work in there - we wanted people to use CC abilities but with some limit. Worked this way since MOP scenarios. DR and durations work together to create an instance rule set i.e. Cripple lasting only 4 secs. We are okay with this situation and how hard the dps check is.

Q: Will Horde get a story update?

A: Yes - we wanted the Varian story to wrap up. We didn't want the Horde story shoe-horned in. Too predictable. Horde story is coming.

Q: Will we ever be able to use weapon illusions on artifacts?

A: No. This was an artistic direction decision done very early on. There was a decision to give artists control and freedom for artifact weapons in order to free up technical limitations. You can always transmog your artifact.

Comment by dumenc

Comment by Chaxton

Agreed. It's such a chore with non Human alts, as well as the pitiful amount of rep we get. Glad that they're doing these quality of life things.

Comment by kandrakars

on 2017-04-27T13:51:42-05:00

Q: Is TOS the last raid of Legion?A: Nope. We are actively working on another raid - 7.3 is Argus and there will be raids on Argus.

Wait a minute, raidS, as in more than one? Confirmed for two Argus raids?

Comment by AKPlayer

on 2017-04-27T13:55:47-05:00

Some decent information. Still want to see NOMI fixed. :)

Comment by Eighjan

on 2017-04-27T14:06:16-05:00

Q: Is TOS the last raid of Legion?A: Nope. We are actively working on another raid - 7.3 is Argus and there will be raids on Argus.

Wait a minute, raidS, as in more than one? Confirmed for two Argus raids?

This -- if not two, how many...?

Comment by GordonBuchat

on 2017-04-27T15:03:27-05:00

Some decent information. Still want to see NOMI fixed. :)

I hadn't even thought about getting Nomi fixed - if he doesn't get fixed, he could, you know, reproduce and that could lead to Son of Nomi or Nomi Jr. or Nomi 2.0.

I shudder to think of the horrors that would befall us if that were to happen.

/shudder

Comment by Ap0ll0

on 2017-04-27T15:04:31-05:00

Excited for Horde Story, despite playing Alliance :D

Comment by ZerstoererMB

on 2017-04-27T15:26:02-05:00

So what I got from this is:

Barely half a year into the expansion we're done with legendaries - if they're forcing offspec drops on us, that implies there won't be any new ones released? I have no use for other spec legendaries, I don't play them. So much for ongoing development of one of the biggest components of gearing in the xpac

Removal of the exalted requirement for class mounts? It isn't that hard to begin with and now those of us that actually put the work into it just get punished (again). Why does this need to be nerfed now? I can see removing it later in the expansion for altholics, but doing it preemptively is just taking all fun out of the process.

RIP 7.2.5

Comment by Joshmaul

on 2017-04-27T15:31:07-05:00

ARGUS! At last, we're going to Argus!

Comment by MaXiiczek

on 2017-04-27T15:34:28-05:00

Horde story! Yay! I'm really curious what direction it will take... I like Horde, but I don't want it to become another Cataclysm with good Aliance and bad Horde when Garrosh was in charge...

Comment by maryalice

on 2017-04-27T15:46:23-05:00

Q: Will the exalted requirement for class mounts be account wide?A: No, it will not be account wide. But...that requirement has been removed! We did want people to have flying before the mount but now we see with how pacing has worked out that that is not a worry. So no, you do not need exalted for class mounts. Just completing the Legionfall campaign and the finale of that for your class = unlocked class mount.

Now I wonder exactly what he means by "Just completing the Legionfall campaign...". Does it mean that all our alts (of each class) will still need to finish the requirements of Pathfinder Part 2 (revered with legion fall), OR that we only need to complete Pathfinder 1 & 2 and earn Legion flying on one character for our account, and then all our alt classes can start their class mount quests?

Comment by lagmoose

on 2017-04-27T15:46:57-05:00

Q: Is Black Temple Timewalking tied to Outland Timewalking Dungeon Event?A: Yes, when it's Outland Timewalking Dungeon Event you'll be able to do Black Temple Timewalking. Ideally, every Timewalking event will have a raid associated with it eventually. Let us know which one you like for each expansion!

Classic Timewalking should happen. Except it would be the OLD dungeons like 10 Man Strat and both Scholos, 15 Man UBRS. They could add 2 raids to Timewalking for that event. Bring back Molten Core (with or without the mount, but at least have the pet back in) and Zul'Gurub (to bring the Razzashi Raptor and ZulianTiger back. :p)

I would love Wrath Timewalking to have Naxx (ICC IF two were to be released), but it be the old Naxx (Corrupted Ashbringer model!). Cataclysm would probably be Firelands for the raid for that one. Mists would be a difficult one to choose, I'm thinking perhaps Heart of Fear, maybe Throne of Thunder (only because I know that people were sick of Siege long before Warlords came out. :P)

Comment by tazeel

on 2017-04-27T15:59:35-05:00

Horde story! Yay! I'm really curious what direction it will take... I like Horde, but I don't want it to become another Cataclysm with good Aliance and bad Horde when Garrosh was in charge...

It will probably be Sylvanas doing evil stuff or some clarity on the Darkspear situation. I hope something with Vol'jin, but it would risk to mess up the whole Warchief thing. Because if he comes back, who's warchief then?

Comment by deathlavitz

on 2017-04-27T16:13:32-05:00

Glad to see that "exalted req" out of the picture

indeed no longer need to farm rep on your alts in advance, especially those with more then 3 alts, I can imagine they had time for little else.

Comment by deathbecomezher

on 2017-04-27T16:16:59-05:00

So I hurried and got exhalted with Armies for nothing? so now everyone who can fly can get class mounts faster? Sorry that isn't right IMO...a lot of us got exhalted to get ready for the class mounts

Comment by Hostik

on 2017-04-27T16:27:07-05:00

so glad exalted is not required anymore, especially to learn about it the day I grinded out exalted.

Comment by darquis

on 2017-04-27T16:27:32-05:00

So I hurried and got exhalted with Armies for nothing? so now everyone who can fly can get class mounts faster? Sorry that isn't right IMO...a lot of us got exhalted to get ready for the class mounts

Great, congrats, you got exalted before us. Now you can get Paragon chests while everyone else is grinding.

Comment by jimbobaus

on 2017-04-27T16:29:15-05:00

Q: Will the exalted requirement for class mounts be account wide?A: No, it will not be account wide. But...that requirement has been removed! We did want people to have flying before the mount but now we see with how pacing has worked out that that is not a worry. So no, you do not need exalted for class mounts. Just completing the Legionfall campaign and the finale of that for your class = unlocked class mount.

Now I wonder exactly what he means by "Just completing the Legionfall campaign...". Does it mean that all our alts (of each class) will still need to finish the requirements of Pathfinder Part 2 (revered with legion fall), OR that we only need to complete Pathfinder 1 & 2 and earn Legion flying on one character for our account, and then all our alt classes can start their class mount quests?

Pathfinder 1 and 2 are not part of the campaign. What he meant was that each character that wants a class mount needs to compete the caimpagn on the broken shore. This means the breaching the tomb achievement needs to be completed on each character wanting the class mount (the 11 week quest chain that this week was the 100 marks of the sentinax etc)

Comment by Holyfirez

on 2017-04-27T16:30:09-05:00

As for Timewalking raids, i'd really like to see Icecrown/Ulduar/Naxxramas it's really hard to decide between these two, but Cataclysm is definitely Dragon Soul, and MOP should be Throne of Thunder nobody likes to see Garrosh face again. tho i'd like to see Sunwell raid more than Black Temple it's just more iconic.

Comment by hstella

on 2017-04-27T16:41:37-05:00

i dont think Argus take place just in Legion they will make it last through next exp maybe